Marathon: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:56, 21 March 2026

Marathon is a series of first-person shooter games started by Bungie. Now that the new Marathon has been released, the old games are sold under the name Classic Marathon. The original Marathon was released for Macintosh in 1994 and was preferred by Mac gamers as a more sophisticated alternative to the PC hit DOOM. As with the Myth series, Bungie made the first two games (Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal) and then another studio made the third (Marathon Infinity). Unlike Myth's third game, the third Marathon game stayed close to the previous games' roots because Marathon Infinity was created by Double Aught, a short-lived studio spun off from Bungie which was co-founded by Marathon's lead writer, Greg Kirkpatrick.

Bungie is known for cross-referencing their games, and indeed there are multiple references to Classic Marathon in Oni, documented in the Easter eggs article.

Unlike Oni with its canceled multiplayer, Marathon shipped in 1994 with a very popular multiplayer feature (LAN-only). Bungie also supported the modding community with helpful information on the file formats; they eventually released the development tools Forge and Anvil alongside Marathon Infinity.

In 1999, the Marathon 2 engine was open-sourced by Bungie. This code was used by fans to produce Aleph One, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity as well as fan-made scenarios. The original LAN networking was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. In 2005, the Marathon Trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so anyone can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the Aleph One engine (see links below).

Unlike Oni and Myth, the rights to the Marathon IP never left Bungie's hands. Bungie announced in May 2023 that they were returning to the IP with a new extraction shooter set on/around Tau Ceti, the location of the original game. The game released in March 2026. A major Oni reference occurs in the form of the AI agent named ONI – see Easter eggs § Marathon (2026).

Community links: Lhowon.org (serves the Trilogy, the standalone Aleph One engine, and links to the Aleph One source code); Marathon.Bungie.Org (home of the Marathon Story Forums and Story Page); Simplici7y (mod repository); Pfhorums (community forum); Lhowon.org metaserver (for Internet matchmaking)

Marathon (1994) on Bungie.net (archived): Bungie History: Marathon; Picture galleries

Marathon on Wikipedia: The Marathon games are documented extensively on Wikipedia; you can start with the "Marathon series" article, but there are specific articles for each game as well.

Marathon (2025): Official Announce Trailer - YouTube; Official Site; Reveal Cinematic Short - YouTube

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-Marathon is a series of first-person shooter games started by [[Bungie]]. The original game was only released for Macs in 1994, and served as a (superior) stand-in for 1993's DOOM, since that classic title was only available for Windows/DOS. As with the [[Myth]] series, Bungie made the first two games ("Marathon" and "Marathon 2: Durandal"), and then the third was made by another studio. In this case, the third game was "Marathon Infinity", and it was made by [[wikipedia:Double Aught|Double Aught]], a short-lived game studio spun off from Bungie. Unlike Myth III, the third Marathon game stayed close to its roots since it was made by former Bungie developers.
+[[Image:Marathon - Defend THIS!.jpg|right|400px]]
+Marathon is a series of first-person shooter games started by Bungie. Now that the new Marathon has been released, the old games are sold under the name Classic Marathon. The original Marathon was released for Macintosh in 1994 and was preferred by Mac gamers as a more sophisticated alternative to the PC hit DOOM. As with the [[Myth]] series, Bungie made the first two games ('''Marathon''' and '''Marathon 2: Durandal''') and then another studio made the third ('''Marathon Infinity'''). Unlike Myth's third game, the third Marathon game stayed close to the previous games' roots because Marathon Infinity was created by [[wp:Double Aught|Double Aught]], a short-lived studio spun off from Bungie which was co-founded by Marathon's lead writer, Greg Kirkpatrick.
-In a way that is not unusual for Bungie, there are multiple references to Marathon in [[Oni]], documented in the [[Easter eggs]] article.
+Bungie is known for cross-referencing their games, and indeed there are multiple references to Classic Marathon in [[Oni]], documented in the [[Easter eggs]] article.
-[[Multiplayer|Unlike Oni]], Marathon was shipped with multiplayer (albeit LAN-only), and was mod-ready to begin with; Bungie also released some of their development tools. Later, the Marathon 2 source code was leaked, then open-sourced by Bungie. This source was used to produce AlephOne, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity, as well as any fan-made scenarios. The original support for LAN multiplayer was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. Later still, the Marathon trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so you can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the AlephOne engine (see below).
+Unlike Oni with its [[Multiplayer|canceled multiplayer]], Marathon shipped in 1994 with a very popular multiplayer feature (LAN-only). Bungie also supported the modding community with helpful information on the file formats; they eventually released the development tools Forge and Anvil alongside Marathon Infinity.
+In 1999, the Marathon 2 engine was open-sourced by Bungie. This code was used by fans to produce Aleph One, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity as well as fan-made scenarios. The original LAN networking was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. In 2005, the Marathon Trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so anyone can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the Aleph One engine (see links below).
+Unlike Oni and Myth, the rights to the Marathon [[wp:Intellectual property|IP]] never left Bungie's hands. Bungie announced in May 2023 that they were returning to the IP with a new extraction shooter set on/around Tau Ceti, the location of the original game. The game released in March 2026. A major Oni reference occurs in the form of the AI agent named ONI – see {{SectionLink|Easter eggs|Marathon (2026)}}.
 ;Community links
-:[http://marathon.bungie.org/ Marathon.Bungie.Org] (original home of Marathon fans, now mostly a portal page for other Marathon sites)
+:[https://alephone.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org] (serves the Trilogy, the standalone Aleph One engine, and links to the Aleph One source code)
-:[http://simplici7y.com/ Simplici7y] (mod repository)
+:[https://marathon.bungie.org/ Marathon.Bungie.Org] (home of the Marathon Story Forums and Story Page)
-:[http://pfhorums.com/ Pfhorums] (community forum)
+:[https://simplici7y.com/ Simplici7y] (mod repository)
-:[https://www.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org metaserver] (for Internet matchmaking)
+:[https://pfhorums.com/ Pfhorums] (community forum)
-:[https://alephone.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org downloads] (serves the Trilogy, the AlephOne engine, and links to the AlephOne source code)
+:[https://metaserver.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org metaserver] (for Internet matchmaking)
-;Marathon on Bungie.net
+;Marathon (1994) on Bungie.net (archived)
-:[http://www.bungie.net/Projects/Marathon/default.aspx Picture galleries]
+:[https://web.archive.org/web/20140421231244/http://halo.bungie.net/inside/history.aspx?link=juggernougat Bungie History: Marathon]
+:[https://web.archive.org/web/20130501113706/http://halo.bungie.net/projects/marathon/asset_thumb_viewer.aspx?at=59&cc=33 Picture galleries]
 ;Marathon on Wikipedia
-:The Marathon games are documented (over-?)extensively on Wikipedia, starting [[wikipedia:Marathon_(computer_game_series)|HERE]], with exhaustive information on gameplay, enemy types, and the storyline.
+:The Marathon games are documented extensively on Wikipedia; you can start with the [[wp:Marathon (series)|"Marathon series" article]], but there are specific articles for each game as well.
+;Marathon (2025)
+:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckI_m8bbXfw Official Announce Trailer - YouTube]
+:[https://www.marathonthegame.com/ Official Site]
+:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvbEnWLRo1s Reveal Cinematic Short - YouTube]
 [[Category:Real World]]